Archive for the ‘Developing economies’ Category

Summary: Work around the house and for the family is unpaid work and mostly done by women. This reduces their labor force participation and ultimately hurts the GDP of a country. Melinda Gates suggests reducing the work through innovation for the developing countries and redistributing the work amongst partners for developed countries. Higher levels of equity between the sexes will contribute to a stronger social fabric and economy.

Summary: Learn about a little group in North Korea, called the ‘donju.’ The economic prosperity that they developed went on to support the country’s nuclear program and contributed to the growth of their economy. This was all made possible when Kim Jong Un began allowing consultants from overseas to educate North Korean entrepreneurs on accounting, trade, and management. They did this without daring to actually call it a spread of capitalism, as North Korea still remains a strict socialist country.

Original Air Date: October 13, 2017

Length: 24 minutes 25 seconds

Discussion prompt (1): Having listened to this podcast, what type of economic system do you think North Korea has? What impact do you think this system has on people, businesses and the government. Use specific examples from the podcast to support your answer.

Discussion Prompt (2): The podcast points out that in N Korea’s economic system “the state technically owns everything.” How does this impact the ‘Donju’? Think particularly how it impacts the incentives they face to start and grow a business (contributing to economic development).

Discussion Prompt (3): Why would entrepreneurship not be something typically observed in a Centrally Planned/Socialist country? How are the economic incentives of this system related to this lack of entrepreneurship? According to this podcast, how did the economic actions of the Donju contribute to economic growth in N. Korea?

Summary: Brazil was an emerging economy and a member of the BRICS. However, in March 2016 a huge corruption scandal exploded into an economic crisis and demand for the impeachment of the president followed by a political regime change. Marketplace looks into how Brazil changed course of progress in the last 10 years.

Summary: In this podcast, the Planet Money team attempt to decipher why economic news about China is so popular in the media and if the indicators are something we should worry about including the stock market and economic growth.

Summary: The Nigerian Internet hosts many ads for stolen oil, inspiring the question: how? Why? Nigeria has one of the top oil reserves, and it is controlled by the government. They lose about $10 million a day from oil theft. This podcast dissects how they get away with it.

Original Air Date: October 29, 2014

Length: 19 minutes 30 seconds

Discussion Question: The podcasts says that this problem is for the Nigerian government to solve. Should it be an international issue?

Prompt: The podcast does not reflect on the legally sold oil, and the effect the stolen oil has on that market. Write how you think the stolen oil would change the market for legal crude oil in the international arena, paying specific attention to the quantity and the prices.